SS2: Hirvonen closes on Loeb with stage win

Mikko Hirvonen has trimmed Sebastien Loeb’s lead on Rally Italia Sardegna to 1.1s by winning stage two of the FIA World Rally Championship qualifier.

Hirvonen was 0.3s faster than Citroen team leader and nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb through the second run of the Terranova stage, which took place in warm and dry conditions albeit in fading light.

Petter Solberg was the fastest Ford driver in third after reporting his decision not to run with an auxiliary lightpod had cost him valuable seconds after the stage start was delayed by eight minutes. However, he fared far better than team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala. The Finn dropped back when he broke a front-left wheel 10 kilometres into the stage, which resulted in a total loss of air from the tyre. He was 27.1s slower than stage winner Hirvonen as a result.

Latvala had gambled by running first on the road in the hope that he would enjoy better daylight and less hanging dust than his rivals but the decision appears to have backfired with a 42.1s overnight deficit to Loeb.

Ott Tanak lost more ground on his hard-compound tyres, while Mads Ostberg discovered his Fiesta had suffered a broken cross member when he reached the stage finish. But there were no such problems for Thierry Neuville who climbed from sixth to fourth by going fourth fastest.

Crews will now make the 51.37-kilometre journey to Olbia for the 45-minute service halt at the town’s Isola Bianca cruise liner terminal.